2016: THE NEW THOMAS NEWTON

A conversation with Michael C Hall of Dexter and Bowie's Lazarus

Image: Michael C Hall, in Lazarus, 2016. © Jan Versweyveld via The Sunday Times

Michael C Hall and I are comparing notes on all that has been done in the name of David Bowie since his death in January.

“Did you see the Lady Gaga tribute at the Grammys?” he asks, that familiar eyebrow raised. “The BBC Bowie Prom was far, far worse,” I reply. “I swear you could hear him turning in his grave when Amanda Palmer brought her baby on stage.”

Luckily, Hall missed it all — he was at home in New York. Now he’s in London for the Mercury prize, for which Bowie’s Blackstar was a contender, but not the winner. He performed the track Lazarus, the title of the off-Broadway musical in which he played the lead. It opens in London this month, which means the capital is his home until the new year.

For the moment, Hall, 45, is Bowie’s representative on earth. The part of Thomas Jerome Newton in Lazarus was his from the start. He was cast on the back of his roles in the award-winning series Six Feet Under a…